Indiana Jones and the Book of the Palladium
by The Mutant Velociraptor
Summary: After after finding an old friend, Indy discovers aroom hidden under the library. Quite certain it has lots of secrets, he begins the search for The Book of the Palladium. But after some nasty 'accidents', he's not sure he wants it anymore...
1. Chapter I : The Secret Room

**Indiana Jones and the Book of the Palladium  
--**

**Disclaimer: **As mentioned before, Indy's not mine. Neither is his car, if he even has one. Everything else is, though - minus the Palladium - so everybody gets cookies.  
**A/N:** Ladeeda. If you're looking for action, this chapter won't give it to you. I'm basically trying to work on emotional feelings that don't involve nausea or anything of the sort, and who better to try it on than Indy? I realize the end's quite.. unfinished, shall we say, but it'll all come in chapters yet to be typed. Thank you.  
--

The dim light the candle gave flickered as fingers turned yellowing pages of old books. Dust that had been settled for tens of years was now exactly the opposite, floating around the air and making one of the figures hunched over the table cough.

There were two of them, silhouettes in the old, musty room. A man and a woman, both excitedly going through decade-old books and maps, a growing pile of the ones already looked at on the floor. The small, packed room was illuminated by a single lantern, the candle of which was burning dangerously low. The shelves lining the walls were packed with yet more books, and a thin rope hanging from the ceiling indicated they were in a basement, or a room that needed to be accessed by trap door. The only sound was the rustle of papers, and the coughing of the woman; otherwise, everything was completely silent.

Finally, the woman sat back, sighing. "I don't think it's here, Indy."

The man replied by slamming his hand onto the table, raising even more dust. "It's got to be! We've looked everywhere else—"

She coughed and placed her hand on his. "I know, Indy, but we've been through more than half the books and—"

"So?" he replied angrily, snatching his hand away. "It could still be here… just because we haven't found it; it doesn't mean it's not here."

The woman sighed again. "I know, believe me – I know. But it's getting late, and we should be going. We can always come back tomorrow, and go through the rest."

Indeed, the watch the man was wearing showed a shocking 1:27 AM. The two had been in the room for approximately four and a half hours continuously.

"Well… fine. But I'm taking this home." The man picked up the book he had been reading.

For the third time, the woman sighed, this time in exasperation. "Alright. I've got tomorrow off; I'll take this along as well." She held up the next book in the 'To Be Read' pile. "Let's go."

The man nodded, and stood up to fetch a ladder propped up against one of the shelves. Pulling the rope, the trap door swung open, and he placed the ladder under the exit. "After you."

She rolled her eyes and climbed up, and he followed her, carefully closing the door again. Then the two of them exited the old library, respective books tucked under their arms.

--

After dropping the woman off at her house, Dr. Henry 'Indiana' Jones, the man, began to make his way home, brow furrowed and thinking about the book he was planning on studying. Recently, the professor had become quite interested in different sorts of mythology, and while going through various books in the public library situated conveniently near his home, he had come across a small reference to a certain Palladium. The Palladium was said to have been a statue that fell from Heaven and was kept at Troy to keep the city safe. Its location was uncertain – surely, it was just pure myth – but nevertheless, he was intrigued, and had begun to look through the rest of the books on Ancient Greek, when Hope Walters walked back into his life.

Hope was someone he had never thought he would ever meet again. They had been friends at college – even gone out for a while – but then one day she had quite mysteriously vanished. The last time – or so he thought – Indiana had seen her, she had been in tears and packing to leave. Her departure had been quite strange, and had been the topic of discussion for the next few weeks, but nobody had ever discovered what exactly had happened to her – until the previous day.

As he had been sitting in his corner of the library, ignoring the others around him, the chair in front of him had slid backwards on its own accord, and suddenly he found himself sitting face to face with a slender woman of about his age, dark hair tied up in a ponytail. Elegant fingers clasped in front of her, Hope smiled at the professor.

"Hello, Indy."

"_Hope?_"

He had been, to say the least – astounded.

Reaching the place he lovingly called home, he fumbled around in his pocket for the key, and finding it, unlocked his door. As he stepped through the doorway, he realized exactly how tired he was really feeling – and staggered off to his bedroom, leaving the book haphazardly on the table.

--  
**To Be Continued**


	2. Chapter II : Accident

**Indiana Jones and the Book of the Palladium  
**--**  
**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Indeh. Or Marcus. Or the Palladium, come to think of it.**  
A/N: **Oh dear. It's getting quite boo-hooish, I know, but still, the point was to deal with emotion. The next chapter'll be the challenge. Yes. Nerg.**  
--**

_ Riiiiiiiing!_

Sitting up tiredly, Indiana rubbed his eyes and got out of bed. Checking his watch – he hadn't bothered to take it off the night before – he noted the time; 12:05 PM. He'd overslept.

_ Riiiiiiiing!_

What on earth was that noise? It wasn't the alarm clock; that was silent, resting unwound on his bedside. So it must be… the telephone!

_ Riiiiiiiing!_

Hurriedly, Indiana got out of bed and headed towards the telephone, which was ringing rather angrily as the person on the other side waited impatiently for him to pick up, which he did just a few moments later.

"Hello?"

"Indy? It's about time; I've been waiting at least ten minutes. What have you been doing?"

Indiana sighed with some relief – it was only Hope. "I was asleep—" he began sheepishly, but was cut off as Hope continued, with a slight cough.

"Well, nevermind. I think I've got what you're looking for. Are you free this afternoon?"

"I think so… after three. I have a lunch appointment."

"Great. See you then."

Hope hung up, leaving a quite bewildered Indiana staring at the receiver.

Pretty soon, he got over his confusion and entered the living room, to have a look at the book he had picked up earlier. Sitting down at the table – already fully dressed; he hadn't bothered to change the night before – he stared at the cover. The book was leather-bound, the golden lettering on the cover almost entirely faded away. He could still make out what it said, though: _βιβλίο του Ελλάδα_; Book of Greece. It was quite a fat volume, containing quite a lot on Greek mythology and folklore, and Indiana was certain there would be something about the Palladium in it – his new obsession. After the previous night, he was quite sure it was real – perhaps it didn't have the power to keep cities safe, but nevertheless it would be a brilliant addition to the museum. Even if he wasn't quite as interested in 'fortune and glory' as he had been back in '35, it was still one of the things that he enjoyed about his work.  
He spent the rest of the day with the book after phoning the college to tell them he wouldn't be in that day.

--

'The Secret Room', as Indiana was inclined to call it, wasn't quite a secret. As Indiana and Hope had headed off to check out their books, the librarian, an old lady who had a lot of cats, had merely made a comment.

"Why," she chuckled, stamping a book entitled _The Mysteries of the Trojan War_, "I should show you that old room in the basement, with all the dusty books. You'd get a kick out of that, you would."

"What room?" Indiana and Hope had asked in unison, staring at the librarian in a quizzical manner.

"Oh, it was here before we moved in. It's filled with old books and maps and things. Shall I show you?"

"If it's not too much trouble," said Indiana, trying to conceal his growing excitement.

"Alright. Cathy, take over for me, would you? Come on, then," said the librarian, turning back to the two and leading them off to a secluded part of the old building. She stopped at a point halfway between a bookcase and the wall, pointing to one of the tiles that was considerably less chipped than the others.

"Down there," she said amiably, folding her arms. "You can go down, if you want. Take as long as you like. Just be sure to return the books when you're done. Holler if you need anything."

With that, the librarian turned and headed back to relieve Cathy of her post, leaving Indiana and Hope to their own devices. Indiana had managed to pry open the trap door from a crack in one of the corners. The ladder was already propped up beneath the opening, so Indiana climbed down first, followed by Hope. They were astounded by the volume of books inside the small room, and immediately went to work.

The rest, as they say, is history.

--

Eventually, three o'clock rolled around, and Indiana got ready for his lunch appointment with one of the founders of the museum and Marcus Brody. Needless to say, it was quite boring, and Indiana was glad when it was over and he could finally leave. He was quite intrigued to what Hope had found. Could this be it? Could it be the lead to finding the Palladium?

Walking down the street where Hope's temporary home was, Indiana could see a commotion up ahead. A mob of people were crowding around one of the smaller houses, making room for an ambulance parked there as well as some police cars and… hold on. _Wasn't that Hope's house?_ Indiana broke into a run. Reaching the crowd, he began to push past people, not bothering to apologize, until he came to the front and watched, much to his horror, as a team of medics lifted a prone figure on a stretcher into the back of the ambulance.

--

**To Be Continued**


End file.
